With internationally renowned festivals all taking place during the summer months, Montreal is at its most vibrant from June to August. But to avoid the crowds, Fall makes a great alternative when temperatures remain high enough for exploring by foot, and room vacancies open up across its range of boutique and quirky hotels.

What to Pack

A Beginners Guide to French if you don’t speak it – this may be Canada, but French is the local tongue here. Winters can be brutal above the underground city passages with snow lingering until Spring, so sturdy shoes are a must.

General Tips

Appointed a UNESCO City of Design in 2006, host to the Summer Olympics of 1976, and home to the Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal may not be a country capital, but it certainly has the credentials to be.

Historically the industrial capital of Canada, it now hosts 50 National Historic Sites, more than any other city, including the Notre Dame of Montreal Basilica and Bonsecours Market. Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67 apartment complex is a more modern architectural gem.

The city is a leader of performing arts, home to the largest theatrical producer in the world (Cirque du Soleil), largest comedy festival (Just for Laughs) and largest jazz festival (Montreal International Jazz Festival). More classical arts are performed at the multipurpose Place des Arts.

The best art collections are to be found in the Museum of Fine Arts for European, Inuit and Canadian works, and the Musee d’art contemporain for post-war Quebec artists.